*Rakota's POV*

I swiftly flew back to the mining village. Andar was on the ground behind the mine entrances, keeping people from warning the mages. The others circled the area, ready for the battle to come.

Serepha quickly gave me an update. "Three mages are in the second mine. It isn't connected to the other tunnels, so Victorya and Qwest are rerouting the stream inside. We'll flood them out and hope the water damages their runes and gear."

Like most villages, this one had been built beside a water source, in this case, a large creek. I examined Victorya's and Qwest's spells as a trench formed on its own accord. Molding the ground took a lot of concentration and a special knack – one I happened to have – and I quickly figured out what they were doing and joined their efforts to divert the water into the tunnel opening.

Soon enough, the water ran freely into the mine entrance. I kept deepening the trench, trying to encourage more water to pour into the tunnels.

It was only a matter of time before they were forced out.

I kept an eye on the villagers, who were mostly hiding in their houses or fleeing into the forest. A few men were still running out of the other mines, although more would be hiding inside. Andar remained on the ground, likely ready to dump fire spells down the air shafts. His rider was firmly secured to the saddle in case Andar had to take flight, which wasn't likely with his concentration dilemma and the lack of dangerous ground-based weapons.

I readied various shielding, blocking, and attack spells, preparing to cast whatever was needed at a moment's notice. The spells glimmered in my mind, waiting for my magic to power them. Pure magic had a higher cost than rune magic or using other aids, but the casting time was almost instantaneous and it was nearly impossible for other mages to determine what spell was heading their way in time for them to stop it.

Time seemed to drag on as water continued to pour into the mine. I wasn't sure how deep the shafts were, but it would have started reaching the mages by now. I deepened the water channel even more, hastening the flow so the mages would have less time to prepare.

When I spotted movement just inside the entrance, I roared and threw a fireball. The flames splattered across a faint blue shield, which disappeared seconds later, letting the burning gobs drop to the ground where they continued to burn cheerfully with minimal smoke.

The faint glimmer of a large rune glowing made me do a wingover while activating my shields. The nearly invisible blast missed me, as did the unexpected second one. A strangled noise made me glance back to confirm the second one had struck Victorya.

Her spell blocking amulet glowed furiously, but it absorbed enough of the immobilization spell that she was able – barely – to glide toward the meadow behind Andar. Qwest shadowed her, casting spells to make her lighter and slow her fall.

Her amulet was one of the most powerful I'd ever seen – it shouldn't have had this much trouble blocking a spell. The mages had clearly put a lot of work into the runes and found a type that was very effective against dragons.

Lightning cracked out of the cloudless sky, courtesy of Serepha, causing rocks near the entrance to explode and either injure or distract the mages. I sent another fireball down, which hit another shield. Andar was sending spells down the air shafts – smoke-producers, if I had to guess at a quick glance – while the rest of us, minus Victorya, kept pummeling the entrance with spells.

Heavy smoke began pouring out of the entrance, which hindered our view and made it next to impossible for the mages to breathe. Grandel's gray scales blended in almost perfectly as he instantly took advantage of the camouflage.

The smoke suddenly rippled as more immobilization spells rocketed out. I flipped to the side as one skimmed the edge of my shields, draining far more magic than I had expected. The other one curved back in an arch and struck Andar square on the hindquarters. He sank to the ground in a manner that reminded me of how my own limbs had turned to clay and refused to respond three days ago.

But how had they targeted him when they couldn't see him?

I launched another fireball to distract them while slamming the entire area with a mage-power-sensing spell. Three scrying wards glowed brightly in my sight, as did the three mages and an entire pile of pre-charged spells beside them.

I cast lightning at the wards and shattered the bits of pottery, preventing them from seeing us if they didn't use their own eyes. They had at least a handful more immobilization spells and a bunch of others I didn't recognize, which was unusual.

The smoke kept them from retreating inside, but they were still mostly sheltered by the rock. Baring my teeth, I began undermining the ground beneath the entrance. Serepha launched more spells to distract the mages and keep them from noticing what I was doing.

Grandel swirled through the smoke, where his dark gray scales blended in almost perfectly. He was preparing a spell, although considering how long it was taking him, I wasn't sure what he was casting.

Qwest left Victorya's side and began helping me. A huge hollow soon lurked under their feet, sloping away from the mine. I redirected the water back into the original creek bed to keep it from flooding the cavern we were carving.

"Let me know when you plan to surprise them," Grandel told me in a strained voice.

I glanced at the smoke, briefly spotting the perfectly camouflaged dragon. "Now works."

He swooped out of the smoke with a furiously rotating ball of blue and yellow grasped in his hands. As he passed over the entrance, he released it. Several spells shot up to intercept it, but they had no effect.

It hit the ground and exploded in a bombardment of blue icicles and lightning. The ground began to collapse, and I quickly helped it along. Several others helped me undermine the rock as dirt slid down the side of the hole, taking three men in muddy, water-soaked robes with it.

Now that they were out in the open where we could properly see them and too disoriented to block us, we cast stun spells on them as they rolled to the bottom of the sinkhole. They lay in the rock rubble, motionless, but still alive. It was an ironic twist of fate considering their love of immobilization spells.

"Rakota gets one," Serepha said. "Who wants the others?"

Ignoring the ensuing discussion, I began casting a very complicated spell, one that would take a few minutes to form, but would turn the mage's very magical seed into a small magic-generating crystal. Mages usually survived the process, although I had no intention of letting this one walk away to live out the rest of his days magicless.

Near the mages, a couple of runes on stone slabs began glowing. My eyes widened, but the spell I was casting prevented me from using any others, even one as simple as communication, and I was too far away for them to hear a shout of warning.

Serepha saw my wings flare as I slide-slipped away and realized the danger. "Look out!"

A fiery explosion rocked the ground and the air. I dropped the spell I was casting and shook my magic clear of its lingering traces, barely managing to get my shields up in time to block the wall of fire.

The flames slowly sank down to the ground, although they continued to burn across every surface in the crater. I exchanged a disbelieving look with the other three still flying.

"Was that a self-destruct spell?" Serepha asked.

"I didn't think humans had anything like that," Qwest said. "It looked like an explosion spell, but they shouldn't have been able to trigger it while stunned."

"It was a rune of some sort, and the mages weren't even touching two of the stone slabs," I pointed out.

"They started glowing at the same time," Serepha murmured. "Could they have tied the runes to their mage power, and when the connection was severed, could it have activated?"

"That would be one way of keeping us from getting our hands on the remaining runes or harvesting their magic," I growled as I cast another sensing spell to confirm that the power stored in the damaged runes was rapidly dissipating. There was nothing salvageable below.

Qwest was already landing by Victorya, who panted from the effort of fighting against the spell's aftereffects. Spreading my wings for a slow glide, I turned my attention to Andar and began testing out various healing and muscle release spells.

I quickly realized the spell that hit him was quite a bit more powerful than the one I'd been struck by in the valley. I kept testing spells to see what worked better. When I'd been bespelled, there had been magebane in my system preventing me from using magic, so I'd been forced to wait it out.

With a sigh, I landed beside him, and belatedly remembering my passenger, who looked rather pale, I crouched down. "Have a break. Don't wander far."

As she shakily walked over to where Randel was standing, I turned my attention back to the green dragon. After trial and error, we found a combination of spells that undid most of the effects, although Victorya's and Andar's movements were still stiff.

Victorya stretched her wings. "This should wear off in half a day, I think. As much as I'd prefer tracking down the other mages before they catch wind of what happened here, I want to be fully recovered in case they're as prepared as this group was."

"I agree," Andar said, glowering at the village where humans were starting to peek out of windows and around corners.

"Let's head back to where we spent the night," Qwest suggested. "We can leave early in the morning. Diondin should be here by then, and if we have to dodge four or five spells at a time, another set of wings will come in handy."

Andar shook himself off. "Let's go, Randel."

The rider stuck the last bit of a bun in his mouth as he strode over and climbed into the saddle. Katerina was already drifting over without me having to say anything. Serepha tilted her head as she watched the human walk by.

As I crouched down, Katerina tucked the remainder of her bun into a pocket and climbed up to the saddle. Her hands swiftly secured the harness straps, moving quicker with the ease of practice. Once she finished, her fingers rested on the handle, yet didn't truly hold onto it.

Serepha looked thoughtful as she spread her wings and took flight. I let the others take off before following behind as the rear guard.